US Department of Justice has officially reclassified cannabis as less dangerous • Hacker News Board

Re: US Department of Justice has officially reclassified cannabis as less dangerous

#121

Post by CodingJeebus » Thu, Apr 23, 2026, 3:44 PM UTC

nekusar wrote: post #85

CodingJeebus wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

12 Step recovery and adjacent programs fill this niche quite well, and new communities are popping up all the time to deal with more modern addictions, like internet/technology addiction. I'm sober and have been in that world for several years now, and the most important (and hardest) part of getting sober was accepting that I had a problem and needed help. Macro policy decisions can help with access to an extent, bu…

12 step recovery is just bullshit christian religionism wrapped in some psychobabble. Id much rather have a program that doesnt use "scary man in the sky" doing bad stuff to you. Here's the steps. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve-step_program We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable. Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. Made a dec…

That's a common criticism that doesn't hold up. Anyone with program experience will tell you that you get to determine what your higher power is and how you define it.

> God, as we understood Him

AA is 90 years old, practiced all over the world (in many non-Christian countries) and has helped millions of people get sober. It's not for everyone, but I'd ask for an example for a more successful and long-lived organization that has saved as many lives as AA. I struggle to think of one.

Re: US Department of Justice has officially reclassified cannabis as less dangerous

#122

Post by tombert » Thu, Apr 23, 2026, 3:44 PM UTC

saulpw wrote: post #115

tombert wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, I've had my share of issues with therapists, but I think the solution is to fix the therapists, not to YOLO it by self-medicating with weed.

Great, how does one fix the therapists? Or is this another one of those tricky systemic generational problems that means that I'll have to YOLO something for my own life before they're fixed?

I'm not claiming I know how to fix it, but I am quite confident that the solution to fixing issues with depression, focus, or any other number of psychological issues is not reading a Reddit post about weed and/or mushrooms and pretending you understand enough about pharmacology to fix these problems.

Therapists and psychologists and psychiatrists require training and as such will still be considerably more likely to help you than weed. Obviously there are bad professionals; I've hired bad electricians before but that does not imply I should try and do all the wiring in my house myself.

Re: US Department of Justice has officially reclassified cannabis as less dangerous

#123

Post by HaloZero » Thu, Apr 23, 2026, 3:44 PM UTC

computerphage wrote: post #117

stronglikedan wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Regulating human consumption of anything that grows from the ground is absolutely ridiculous. As always, it depends. While I agree wrt marijuana, everyone would be an opiate addict if poppy wasn't regulated - it's just that good.

It didn't used to be regulated. How do you explain the fact that not everyone used to be an opiate addict?

Because we regulated it when it got bad. Other countries have had opioid epidemics and they’ve had to intervene. China is a very famous example because the British didn’t like the crackdown as it affected other trade

Re: US Department of Justice has officially reclassified cannabis as less dangerous

#124

Post by manugo4 » Thu, Apr 23, 2026, 3:45 PM UTC

stronglikedan wrote: post #58

oompydoompy74 wrote: post #12

Regulating human consumption of anything that grows from the ground is absolutely ridiculous. It’s an affront to the natural order. At the minimum, nobody should have the ability to tell me I can’t buy seeds and grow a plant for my own personal consumption.

> Regulating human consumption of anything that grows from the ground is absolutely ridiculous. As always, it depends. While I agree wrt marijuana, everyone would be an opiate addict if poppy wasn't regulated - it's just that good.

History disagrees

Re: US Department of Justice has officially reclassified cannabis as less dangerous

#125

Post by malfist » Thu, Apr 23, 2026, 3:45 PM UTC

mlinhares wrote: post #86

malfist wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Biden didn't want to reclassify it because there's really no point in reclassifying. It's still illegal to possess for recreational use and requires a controlled substance prescription from a doctor. It would take a law to remove it from the control substances scheduling, no president can do that. Which is also why Trump didn't do it. (It's now schedule 3 instead of schedule 1)

Poor Biden, couldn't do anything, but Trump fired thousands of government employees, killed USAID, is about to close the department of education. People really have to stop saying this, he could have done it if he wanted, he and his team choose not to.

Surely the SCOTUS stopping everything Biden did and approving everything Trump does doesn't have anything to do with it.

Re: US Department of Justice has officially reclassified cannabis as less dangerous

#126

Post by wholinator2 » Thu, Apr 23, 2026, 3:45 PM UTC

throw0101d wrote: post #82

GordonS wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just one data point, but I'm neurodivergent, and suffered with depression from childhood. A few years ago I was prescribed medical cannabis to treat chronic pain, and aside from being great for pain - wow, it's changed my life! The right cannabis strains can do wonders for my mood, but it also makes me feel... less autistic, for want of a better way of putting it; suddenly I can understand why somebody said something…

> The right cannabis strains can do wonders for my mood, but it also makes me feel... less autistic […] Is it the same strain(s) for everyone, or does each person need to figure out which ones work for them?

There's a general vibe to the strains that's the same between people but you won't know which one you like or which improves your life until you try. It's more some-sizes-fits-most but not one-size-fits-all

Re: US Department of Justice has officially reclassified cannabis as less dangerous

#127

Post by tombert » Thu, Apr 23, 2026, 3:45 PM UTC

bluecheese452 wrote: post #103

tombert wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never actually touched weed, but I would see this with my friends in high school and college. In the better case, they just become insufferable and pseudo-intellectual because they started watching Alan Watts and Carl Sagan while stoned and would become convinced that they know everything about physics and philosophy. In a lot of cases though, and this is more obvious in hindsight, it feels like they were using…

On the other hand I and a lot of my friends who were unhappy did it, grew out of it, and found some happiness. Meanwhile I know many people who did the therapy rout and are still there decades later. Not sure their path was better.

Just because you can name counterexamples doesn't really undermine my point. I know people who were alcoholics in college and then stopped being alcoholics later but that doesn't mean we should encourage people to be alcoholics in college.

Re: US Department of Justice has officially reclassified cannabis as less dangerous

#128

Post by whalesalad » Thu, Apr 23, 2026, 3:46 PM UTC

stronglikedan wrote: post #58

oompydoompy74 wrote: post #12

Regulating human consumption of anything that grows from the ground is absolutely ridiculous. It’s an affront to the natural order. At the minimum, nobody should have the ability to tell me I can’t buy seeds and grow a plant for my own personal consumption.

> Regulating human consumption of anything that grows from the ground is absolutely ridiculous. As always, it depends. While I agree wrt marijuana, everyone would be an opiate addict if poppy wasn't regulated - it's just that good.

if opium was treated like every other plant we wouldn't have the fentanyl crisis. opium has been used for millennia.

Re: US Department of Justice has officially reclassified cannabis as less dangerous

#129

Post by acidtechno303 » Thu, Apr 23, 2026, 3:46 PM UTC

999900000999 wrote: post #110

rkozik1989 wrote: post #4

This is ultimately a good thing, but as a country we also need to talk about the effects of cannabis use on neurodivergent folks. Its not as harmful as other drugs but also isn't really a good coping mechanism. Especially if you're neurodivergent and deal with depression. What I've seen being in/out of partial hospitalization programs is that people just don't realize that heavy cannabis is actually causing/prolongin…

No. Let adults do what they want. A much better argument could be made for banning corn syrup. This cheap fake sugar is behind so many health issues. Even just a switch to real sugar would do wonders. However I don’t believe the government should ban it.

I'll bite.

Corn syrup represents a derivative of a necessity for life and is not psychoactive. Either of these is sufficient to classify it completely differently from cannabis and break your analogy.

Also, apologies for attacking your character, but it's necessary for continuing the discussion in context. Your comment is the exact brand of "immature" that they're saying is wrong. Their comment, to which you are replying, is simply a plea for exactly what your comment is not: relevant, informative, and practical discourse.

Re: US Department of Justice has officially reclassified cannabis as less dangerous

#130

Post by hereme888 » Thu, Apr 23, 2026, 3:46 PM UTC

GordonS wrote: post #62

rkozik1989 wrote: post #4

This is ultimately a good thing, but as a country we also need to talk about the effects of cannabis use on neurodivergent folks. Its not as harmful as other drugs but also isn't really a good coping mechanism. Especially if you're neurodivergent and deal with depression. What I've seen being in/out of partial hospitalization programs is that people just don't realize that heavy cannabis is actually causing/prolongin…

Just one data point, but I'm neurodivergent, and suffered with depression from childhood. A few years ago I was prescribed medical cannabis to treat chronic pain, and aside from being great for pain - wow, it's changed my life! The right cannabis strains can do wonders for my mood, but it also makes me feel... less autistic, for want of a better way of putting it; suddenly I can understand why somebody said something…

Which strains, if you don't mind me asking?